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in which i start a (probably short-lived) obsession with 5k walks

..Mostly because I got a medal at my first one.
……Which is a whole lot less impressive than it sounds, I assure you.

Last spring, my friend Jeanne was talking about participating in a 5K run/walk, Alive and Running. This is an event for suicide awareness, which is near and dear to my heart, and so I tenatively said I’d probably very possibly maybe join her.

(Geminis are the consummate hedgers.)

I changed my mind many times over the next 5 months. I’m not a runner. I don’t actually enjoy walking..I’d rather ride my bike. OTOH, I’m very goal driven, and when I was a kid, I used to do the CROP walk. I can’t remember if I ever raised much money – probably not – and I definitely remember hating the last mile or there of the walk every year. (I remember it being, like, 20 miles, but I suspect it was only 5.) Still, by God, I did it, and so I should be able to walk 5K (3.1mi).

I drove to the event and instantly panicked because I couldn’t find Jeanne and I felt completely out of place. I’m not a runner, I’m not an athlete, and I’m certainly not in the kind of shape I’d like to be. I’d been thinking a lot about this post by Kyle, and it helped me not get back into the car and go the heck home. But I didn’t. Yay me. 🙂

Found Jeanne and her crew just before the start of the race/walk. Her husband was the only one of us that was running, which helped my brain…but goodness, I confess I struggled for the first half. Between my wonky ankles and my plantar fasciatis flare-ups, I was in a fair bit of pain. We slowed down a little, which helped, and pushing through it did help as well. Still, how frustrating. 😦

Final time was 58:30; I came in 230 out of 262. I’m not sure where that puts me as far as walkers go; there’s obviously room for improvement.

Still, I’m not unhappy with my results. And I’m planning to do a few more of these events this year.

…And I totally wore my medal all day. Which helped me not mind so much that I was icing my feet afterwards because ow.